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July 19, 2015

Horse fly exception

Normally I don't like causing harm to living things, but after this horse fly bit me, causing a lot of pain and leading to severe swelling, I had no problem slapping it and then photographing it where it fell.It was still alive at this point, and moving around, though I must confess it later died of its injuries...

The first is a stack of 2 images, and the second was 3 I think, taken with the Sigma 105mm lens.

EDIT: It's a female Haematopota pluvialis (Common or Notch-horned Cleg) according to this website.

"Bites from this species can be quite painful and the flies are remarkably resistant to being killed by hitting them"

Very true; I'm also ready to confess now that I had to slap it twice more during the photography session just to stop it moving too much.